Something Beautiful
by write4ursoul
Summary: Trust - reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person. Everyone has been hurt before. Ginny's personal issues have cost her not only a relationship, but her reputation. Draco learned early on that the only person he can ever rely fully on is himself. Can two people who have grown up as enemies learn to trust together? AU.
1. The Beginning

Disclaimer – I own nothing. I am but a poor delusional woman who enjoys making up stories with other peoples characters. Please don't sue me.

Your head's wrapped around what's around the next bend  
You wish you could find something warm  
'Cause you're shivering cold – Something Inside (August Rush Soundtrack) Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Chapter One: The Beginning

Ron Weasley eyed the menacing sky with temptation, a storm, he knew, was eminent. If he were any judge it was bound to be one hell of a night. Over the years the Weasley clan had gotten very good at judging the weather and its fickle moods. Wearily he started the long trek from the quidditch pitch to the Great Hall where, please Merlin, dinner would be waiting. He wondered idly if she was already there, and if so, had she taken note of the enchanted ceiling?

Lost in his own thoughts he ignored his team mates as they talked and laughed about that days practice. Harry Potter, noting his friend's inattentiveness, lagged quietly behind. Bad weather always brought a tense atmosphere to Gryffindor Tower, and odds were Ron would kill barehanded anyone stupid enough to remark on it. There was only one hard and fast rule in the tower that no one broke, no matter what. No one, absolutely no one, spoke a word of what happened when bad weather rolled in. The first years were going to learn that sooner than anticipated, apparently, hopefully Hermione would be able to impress upon the new arrivals the need to keep their mouths shut, even among other Gryffindors. As poor Ryan Bailey had learned a few years ago, breaking that rule had dire consequences, Ron's Weasley temper wasn't anything to mess about with.

Hermione Granger was already seated in her usual spot at the table casting quick panicky looks between the entrance and the ceiling. Harry slid into his seat without a word, scanning the table. Ryan Bailey excused himself quickly and made a hasty exit, the boy still couldn't be near the volatile red head without flinching. Harry knew better than to say anything, after last year he was lucky he hadn't been beaten to a bloody pulp. The sandy haired boy a few seats over caught Ron's eye.

"She's overseeing a detention for Snape, a pair of second year Ravenclaws nearly managed to blow him up this afternoon. 'Mione and I have already talked to the first years, so you don't have to worry about that." Colin Creevey muttered, pitching his voice to be heard over his housemates, but not loudly enough to spread any further than his own table. He was still a bit amazed with how easily Hermione had managed to get the first years to agree with anything she said, it hadn't even taken them the entire two weeks they had been in school for the group to realize that when the girl with the slightly bushy hair gave an order you obeyed or suffered the wrath of one of the brightest witches that Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had ever seen. They now obeyed blindly. Being Head Girl really did have its perks.

"Ron?" Hermione questioned nervously, "Ron, we have patrols tonight, they really can't be put off." When the boy across from her just stared at her frowning she bit down hard on her lip, she wanted very badly to let him out of the obligation, but knew that doing such a thing could, and with that loathsome toad as Head Boy probably would, come back to haunt her.

Harry opened his mouth, ready to step in and offer himself when Colin's quite voice cut him off.

"I've got her. She is, after all, my best friend." The last was said with a pointed look aimed at the Boy-Who-Lived, causing Harry to flush slightly and look at the plate in front of him as if it suddenly contained the answers to life's greatest mysteries. "She said she was going to hang about in the kitchen and get some studying done instead of bothering with the masses tonight, I'll meet her there." When Ron nodded his agreement Colin pushed away from the table.

"Ron, I-"

"No." Ron said resolutely, "I don't want to hear it, Harry. She asked me to stay out of it and I'm respecting that, it's between the two of you. Don't put me in a position where I have to choose sides, you won't like the outcome. It's better for you if no one ever talks about it again." With that said Ron reached for the platter in the middle of the table, intent on ignoring everything and everyone.

**XXX**

Ginny was curled up in a ratty chair by the fire, a book in her hand and a bowl of thick potato soup on the small table next to her, untouched. It was her favorite, apparently even the house elves knew, but the thought of actually ingesting it made her feel slightly sick. She looked up when the door to the kitchens swished open, one of the House Elves rushing to assure whoever it was that they could help. She had been wondering how long it would take her brother to find her, only it wasn't Ron that rounded the corner.

"I don't need a babysitter, Colin." She muttered, turning her eyes back to the book as if everything was fine.

"Good, because I have no idea how to change a nappy."

"Just go back to dinner, Col. I'm fine, honestly. I'm just going to sit down here and read this book that I've been trying to read since before school started. Besides, it's really quiet down here." Colin would have believed that she was actually fine if not for the fact that her face was chalk white and the book was trembling in her hold.

"Ginny," he murmured as he moved to kneel in front of her, "you know you can't stay down here, although I understand the appeal, Snape checks the kitchens on his way down from dinner. He's not going to let you stay, and you can't have any more of the potion. Ron has rounds, you're stuck with either me or Harry and I thought you would rather put up with me."

With a resigned sigh she closed the book she had been pretending to read since she had sat down. After letting the two boys go she had decided that she was actually craving conversation, it had only taken one look at the ceiling to send her fleeing back to the dungeons. "I hate this. You shouldn't have to put up with me, Col." She muttered sadly as she pushed herself to her feet and took his offered hand.

"I don't have to, I _volunteer _because you're my friend and I care. Now, come on, luv, let's go snuggle up in bed, I have a million ideas to distract you." Colin muttered with a grin as he tightened his grip on her, it was like holding onto an ice cube. He was extraordinarily pleased with himself when she let out a giggle.

"You know its comments like that one that got us into so much trouble before." She pointed out, she had a small smile, but her eyes were sad as he pulled her close enough to wrap his arm around.

"Well he's a dense bloody prat that didn't deserve you anyway."

**XXX**

"If I didn't know better I would believe that rubbish that was being bandied about last term." Luna Lovegood said cheerfully as she threw herself into a chair across from her friends. Ginny's face flushed, but she didn't move away from where she was snuggled into Colin's side, her pillow merely grunted, unwilling to comment, as he flipped a page in the potions text they had been reading. Luna studied the couple for a moment, thinking that they both looked like hell. "Rough night?" She questioned gently, causing Ginny's blush to deepen and the girl to burrow closer to Colin, who merely shrugged tiredly. While she knew Ginny didn't mind talking about what happened in Gryffindor tower, she understood that the red head didn't want to talk about it in the middle of the library, even if they were the only ones in it, so she decided that a change in subject was called for. She was 'Looney' after all, not stupid. "Did you hear about Lana Burns?"

"What? Did she finally stop squeaking over every little thing?" Colin asked as he pushed the text away and turned his attention to the blonde across from him. Lana Burns was a fellow sixth year prefect with the misfortune of being terrified of, well, everything.

"That wasn't very nice." Ginny said with a frown.

"Well, she does. She's unnaturally timid, even for Hufflepuff."

"Colin!" Ginny gasped, sitting up to smack him. "She's a very nice girl."

"I wouldn't know, all she does around me is stutter." He grumbled crumpling up a paper that had been left on the table by a previous student.

"That's because like every other girl in this school she thinks you _dreamy_." Luna told him, making sure that the last word was wistful enough to make him scowl. "Although I still don't understand why." She said seriously as her cornflower blue eyes twinkled mischievously. "After all, you're still a dorky little troll with a camera!" Colin flung the crumpled up paper ball at her, making her laugh.

Ginny watched her friends bicker good-naturedly, thinking that she understood the appeal that had half of the girls in Hogwarts throwing themselves at her friend. The summer before fifth year the short dorky boy had hit a growth spurt and spent some time helping out at the dairy farm his dad delivered milk for. He had come back to school tall and fit and the girls had gone nutty. The fact that he was genuinely baffled and embarrassed by the attention (unlike Harry who fluctuated between thinking it his due and his own little brand of modesty), not to mention he was just so bloody sweet, just made him all the more desirable. If he hadn't been one of her best friends for so long she might have joined in with his crazy fan club, for a brief moment the year before she almost had, but then they had agreed to forget that little episode.

"Anyway," Luna said, jerking Ginny from her thoughts, "Burns was patrolling last night and took the shortcut with that dodgy staircase, you know, the one that should be condemned? Well someone left a bloody window open so the landing was all slick and she went down the lot of them. They went looking for her when she never met back up with the other prefects that had duty."

"Blessed Merlin, is she oaky?" Ginny asked in horror.

"Pomfrey fixed her up; she's fine, a bit shaken up, but fine. I'm actually surprised you didn't hear about it already, Ron's the one who found her and took her to the infirmary."

"We got up late and came to library, haven't seen anyone but you, actually." Colin muttered, running a hand through his hair wearily, he felt rather bad now for making fun of the girl.

"Oh, well in that case, I guess you don't know that our meeting has been moved up to before dinner tonight, huh?" At her friends blank looks Luna shrugged before continuing, "Dumbledore asked that Hermione and Malfoy apprise the prefects of the new patrol schedules and rules, plus we have to assigned partners."

"We already have partners, though." Ginny said with a frown.

"Gin and I have always patrolled together." Colin agreed.

"That's great, but not everyone does patrol together, which is probably going to be one of the rules, besides, not everyone wants to walk 'round the castle in the middle of the night with their housemates." Ginny figured that was true enough; it was no secret that Luna wished most of her housemates (especially her roommates) to the fiery depths of Hell.

Looked like they were getting new partners.


	2. Fights, Reputations and Revenge

Disclaimer – I own nothing.

"It takes years to build a good reputation, and only seconds to destroy it." – Will from _Glee (Season 1, episode 17)_

Chapter Two: Fights, Reputations and Revenge

Arianna Kraft wearily eyed the pacing seventh year knowing that sooner or later the girl was going to turn towards them and demand answers. She hoped like hell that someone would know the correct reply because she didn't have a bloody clue as to his whereabouts. Ari couldn't even blame the Gryffindor when she started calling him names under her breath, they _were_ all correct, and he _was _almost twenty minutes late. She had reminded him of the meeting. For all the good that had done, she might as well have saved her breath.

_You are __**not**__ your cousins' keeper! _She reminded herself firmly, it was something she was still working on, this need to make sure he got where he was supposed to, outside of class and meals, and managed to stay out of trouble. She had discovered early on in their relationship that she was horrid at it.

"I'm going to kill him." Hermione Granger muttered to the room at large as she finally stopped pacing and turned to address the assembled students. "I will be the first Head Girl in history to be expelled for murdering the Head Boy. Then I'm going to be sent to Azkaban to rot, but it will be for a good cause." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, Ari wondered if that was supposed to have had some sort of calming effect on the girl, she didn't think it had worked if it was. Hermione's next words confirmed that. "I will, of course, make sure that none of you are implicated in the crime."

"She's going to have to get in line behind me." Pansy hissed from her left, causing Ari to stifle a giggle.

"Do get your knickers out of that twist, Granger, I'm here. Now let's get this bloody meeting done with." Draco Malfoy sneered as he strode through the doorway and draped himself on one of the two remaining chairs that were set up around the large round table making Hermione glower and a few others laugh out right.

"Don't think for one minute you have any effect whatsoever on my knickers, Malfoy." Hermione ground out between clenched teeth.

"Thank Merlin for small favors." He said snidely, Ari briefly wondered if he knew he sounded like a little snot.

"Is that what you do every time you pull your pants down?" A new voice asked, laced with innocence and curiosity. Ari wanted to pound her head against the table when she realized it was the youngest Weasley joining the, err, conversation.

Draco studied the redheaded girl who was sitting rather closer than necessary to that annoying camera idiot. He could see Ari out of the corner of his eye glaring, silently warning him to watch how he phrased his next insult.

"I'm sure that's what you do whenever you crawl into Potter's bed; I myself have never had any complaints, want to judge yourself?" He asked, putting just the right touch of boredom in his tone. He rather liked the way the chit flushed up with what he figured was most likely anger, her brother on the other hand had turned an unattractive purple. "Oh, that's right; you prefer you're…friend's bed, right?" The whole school knew that while she had been dating the boy-who-just-wouldn't-bloody-die she had spent most nights in the fifth year boy's dormitory, cuddled up to the git with the camera, Potter had made sure of that when he had confronted her in the middle of the Great Hall.

Weasley the elder was actually foaming at the mouth a bit, Granger physically holding him in his chair and hissing something at him, probably threats, the girl was really good with her threats, if only she would follow up where her idiot friend was concerned. Weasley the younger was smirking.

"Stooping to gossip, Malfoy?" She questioned, her brows drawn up, "How very…common of you."

"Enough!" Granger said firmly, cutting into the conversation. "You are all more than welcome to hex, maim, and or kill each other once we leave this room, but for now, we are done trading insults. _One_ more word, Malfoy, and I'm going to let Gin hex you, I swear to God!"

Draco opened his mouth, because really, how could he not with a threat like that, only to snap it closed and glare at his younger cousin. The bloody bint had _kicked_ him.

"Alright." Hermione murmured, releasing a huff, "I call this meeting to order. After last night's…incident, Dumbledore has decided to re-evaluate how we, as prefects, go about our duties." While she talked she passed around thick packets and small purple velvet bags, Draco had to fight the urge to say something insulting about Dumbledore. She must have realized it too, because she cut him a glare so lethal he was a bit amazed that he wasn't bleeding everywhere. "Starting tonight we will begin patrolling the corridors in pairs, with a set route. No, Patil, this is non-negotiable. If you look to your packets it has the schedule for the whole of the term, along with a listing of partners. As those of you who actually paid attention during the welcome feast know, Dumbledore is pushing for unity among the houses this year. He did take this into account. The pairings were assigned with disregard to house, year, and gender. In the small bag you will find a circular charm, you are to keep this on you at all times during patrol, as it has a communication charm. The complete instructions for its uses and directions on setting it up are also in your packet. Now, I hereby close this session, have a wonderful dinner everyone!"

Draco blinked as the door slammed closed behind her as she all but ran from the room. He hadn't even been aware that she was working her way towards the door.

"Ta, Malfoy!" The little redhead cooed as Looney Lovegood and the boy she had been snuggled up against pulled her out of the room, her brother, all but growling at her to shut up, right behind them.

"That was horrid, even for you!" Ari said, leveling her best glare at him. The girl wasn't in Slytherin for nothing, she had a very good glare, maybe even better than Grangers, but her tone rankled.

"Don't I get credit for not calling Granger a _Mudblood_?" He asked nastily, causing the blonde girl to wince at the derogatory term and Pansy Parkinson to narrow her dark blue eyes at him. He immediately felt like slime, Ari may have gotten into the house that prided purebloods the most in the school, but she was still the daughter of Lucius Malfoy's half-blood bastard sister and a muggleborn wizard. He had originally stopped using the name because he knew Ari didn't like hearing it, and she was the only family he could honestly claim to like.

"Ari-"

"Save it, Malfoy." She muttered, hurt lacing her voice. Now it was his turn to wince as she pushed out of the room without a backwards glance.

"That was low, Malfoy, even by your standards." Pansy told him quietly as she gathered Ari's things that the sixth year girl had left behind in her exit.

"Shut it, Pans."

"No. Don't you get it, Malfoy? She's the only person in this school who has your back without question, the only one who really gives a fuck, Merlin knows why, and you say shit like that just to hurt her."

"Well maybe she shouldn't give a fuck. It's not like I deserve it, if I treat her as badly as you seem to think."

"You great wanker, she loves you!" Pansy hissed, "I don't think she cares if you deserve it or not, but one day you're going to push that family bond to the point where she really is going to give up on you, then you're going to be alone. Maybe you should take some time to think about that."

**XXX**

"Are you alright?" Ron asked as Luna and Colin sped up, giving the siblings a measure of privacy.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Ginny questioned without looking at her brother, "It's just Malfoy, it's not like his opinion actually matters."

"About last term-"

"Stay out of it, Ron." Ginny demanded, cutting him off. "What happened is between Harry and I, he's your best friend and I don't want you having to take sides any more now than I did when it first happened."

"I just want you to know," he started, choosing his words, "if I had to choose, I would choose you."

"But you're not, because you're going to stay out of it." Ginny told him firmly even as her eyes misted over from the warm glow his words had produced.

"Right." He agreed with a nod even as his eyes lit with a mischievous light more suited to her and the twins. "I could still kick his arse for you." Ron felt some of the tension that had settled on him in the meeting melt away as his sister finally looked at him with a small smirk.

She had to admit, her brother had filled out since becoming the Gryffindor keeper. He also had seventeen years of functioning as the punching bag for their five older brothers, and managing to hold his own fairly well. "I don't think it would be a very fair fight." She told him.

"You really think I could take him?" He asked, looking like he was seriously considering driving his fist into the face of the boy-who-lived, and rather enjoying the imagery.

"I wouldn't bet against you in an actual fist fight, maybe in a duel, but just you pummeling the hell out of some bloke? My money's always on you." She said honestly, "Besides, you fight dirty."

"Well, I learned from you and the twins. Speaking of which, what happened in there? You don't usually jump into shit like that, it's more my style."

Ginny shrugged, "Malfoy was annoying me."

"That's because he's an annoying little wanker." Ron muttered giving her a slight body bump, making her laugh.

**XXX**

Ari wasn't in the Great Hall. Granger was there though, looking brassed off and glaring at Potter. The Weasley's were there, huddled up and smirking, probably planning Malfoy's murder; Pansy rather thought she would cheer them on if they actually tried for the git.

Ari wasn't in the common room either, Pansy knew because she had checked. She had looked through the entire Slytherin house in the hopes of finding the younger blonde only to come out slightly frustrated.

She finally tracked her down in the back of the library pursuing a small battered book bound in green leather. Pansy didn't need to see the title to know that it was considered a banned book, anything that could make a pissed off Slytherin smile at it the way Ari was currently smiling was probably illegal.

"You forgot this." Pansy said as she slid the packet and small bag across the table. Ari flushed and shoved the small book in her bag, but not fast enough, _Madam M's Ghastly Spells and Potions, Enemy's Beware_. "I'm not entirely sure that Draco will forgive a Madam M." Pansy told her as she slid into a seat, there really wasn't much of a reason to hurry back to the Great Hall, dinner was almost over.

"I'm not sure I care what he would forgive." Ari muttered as she flipped through the stack of papers. "I'm not even sure if I want to forgive him."

"Don't be like that Ari. You know you mean a lot to him. He's just, well, he's Malfoy." Pansy told her, at a loss to explain what about the boy was so damn frustrating.

"I'm not just going to forgive him this time. I'm always forgiving him and letting things pass. I'm tired of it. If he actually cares he's going to have to be the one to show it, Malfoy name be damned." Ari said stubbornly as she finally found the listing of partners. "Oh, that's just beautiful." She murmured, her eyes shining.

Pansy eyed her wearily, it appeared there was something that would be making Draco very uncomfortable in the near future. She had no idea just how right she was.

**XXX**

A/N: I couldn't find a quote or lyrics I liked, also, I couldn't think of a good chapter title. If anyone has better, let me know.


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